Jacks to play three matches at FIU Invitational

The South Dakota State volleyball team snapped its season-opening skid at five matches with a 3-2 win in the final match of the Drake Invitational over the host Bulldogs on Sunday, with a few milestones set along the way.

All-tournament team selection Wagner Larson set a career-high with 26 kills in the win, while senior setter Lexi Fowler posted the team’s first triple-double since the 2007 season with 12 kills, 48 set assists and 14 digs in the win.

"We made a lot of great defensive plays against Drake, Lexi put our attackers in situations where we could be successful," head coach Phil McDaniel said. "I’m proud of the fight the team displayed in a tough match, and I would like to see that carry over into next weekend in Florida."

The Jackrabbits look to hold on to the momentum from their first win of the season this weekend at the FIU Invitational in Miami, Fla., where the Jacks square off against Jacksonville on Friday at 10 a.m. ET and against the host Panthers on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. After a day off on Saturday, SDSU closes the weekend against Tennessee-Chattanooga on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET.

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THE JACKRABBIT INSIDER ON KELOLAND-TV – Fans of South Dakota State Athletics can get a weekly behind-the-scenes look at all 21 Jackrabbit varsity sports teams by tuning into "The Jackrabbit Insider.”

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the show airs on Sundays on MyUTV at 10:30 p.m., followed by broadcasts on Sunday at 11 p.m. on KELOLAND-TV and on Fox Sports North on Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

FOWLER CLIMBS CAREER SET ASSISTS CHARTS – Senior setter Lexi Fowler started her senior season ranked ninth all-time at SDSU with 1,897 career set assists, but moved up one spot to eighth, and enters the weekend with 2,056 for her career, 491 shy of passing Melia Iwamoto (2,546 set assists from 2007-08) for seventh on the all-time list.

FOWLER RECORDS A TRIPLE-DOUBLE – Senior setter Lexi Fowler posted her first-career triple-double in a 3-2 win at Drake on Sept. 7, with 12 kills, 48 set assists and 14 digs. Fowler becomes the first Jackrabbit to score a triple-double since Amy Anderson accomplished the feat in a 3-0 win over Western Illinois at The Summit League Championships on Nov. 16, 2007, when she finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and 10 total blocks.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS

Jacksonville Dolphins (6-0, 0-0 A-Sun) – The Dolphins enter the weekend with a perfect 6-0 record, with a trio of 3-1 wins at the FAU Invitational over Bethune-Cookman, FAU and Southeastern Louisiana.

JU followed the opening weekend with a pair of 3-0 wins over Charleston Southern and Mississippi Valley State and another 3-1 win over FAU at its own Invitational in Jacksonville.

The Series vs. Jacksonville – SDSU leads the all-time series 1-0, after downing the dolphins 3-1 at a tournament hosted by Georgia Southern on Aug. 27, 2011.

The only current Jackrabbit on the team at the time, Lexi Fowler posted six kills, 42 set assists three digs and a block assists in the win.

The Last Meeting: Aug. 27, 2011; Statesboro, Ga. – The South Dakota State volleyball team dropped its first set against Jacksonville by the score of 17-25, but bounced back to win the final three sets 25-23, 25-22 and 25-19 to secure the 3-1 win at the SpringHill Suites Invitational.

Alliya Drzewiecki led the Dolphins, who fall to 1-3 on the season, with 11 kills. Three other Dolphins added nine kills each.

FIU Panthers (3-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) – The Panthers enter the weekend with a 3-3 record after going 1-2 at the season-opening Gamecock Invitational, where they fell 3-2 to High Point and 3-0 to host South Carolina, before ending the weekend with a 3-0 win over South Carolina State.

FIU hosted its first of two tournaments last weekend, where they sandwiched 3-1 wins over Houston Baptist and UNC-Wilmington around a 3-0 loss to Alabama.

The Series vs. FIU – The Panthers on the first and only meeting in the series, a 3-2 win over the Jacks on Sept. 23, 2010 at the Iowa State Challenge in Ames, Iowa.

The Last Meeting: Sept. 23, 2011; Ames, Iowa – The South Dakota State volleyball team suffered its first loss of the 2010 season when they fell to FIU in its first game of the Iowa State Challenge.

The Jackrabbits fell by the set scores of 18-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21 and 10-15. The Panthers, who received votes in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll, improve to 2-2 on the season.

Kaitlin Klingemann tied a career-high with 14 kills to lead three Jackrabbit hitters with double-digit kills, and did so by hitting an impressive .500, with just one error in 26 swings. Kelli Fiegen finished with one less kill, but got her 13 kills in just 22 swings and one error for a .545 hitting percentage. Defending Summit League Offensive Player of the Week Ellyce Youngren added 12 kills and tied a career-high in leading the Jacks with 17 digs for her third double-double of the season.

Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs (0-8, 0-0 SoCon) – The struggling Mocs may enter the weekend with an 0-8 record, but four of those losses came in five sets, including two at the Georgia Tech Invitational, where they opened the season with a 3-2 loss to the College of Charleston. The host Yellow Jackets downed the Mocs 3-0 in the second match of the season, followed by 3-2 loss to Florida A&M.

UTC hosted its own invitational last weekend, where they fell 3-0 to Tennessee, 3-2 to both Charlotte and UT-Martin and 3-1 to UNC-Asheville. The Mocs also fell 3-0 at Belmont on Tuesday.

The Series vs. Tennessee-Chattanooga – First Meeting

NEXT UP FOR THE JACKRABBITS – SDSU remains on the road for its final tournament of the regular season with three matches on the slate at the UTEP/New Mexico State Invitational. The Jacks play Hampton and UTEP on Friday in El Paso, Texas, and then make the short drive to Las Cruces New Mexico on Saturday to play at New Mexico State.